More for Less: A Theme Park Planning Strategy

[SeilerBird]

Not sure if you're kidding or not, but, compared to how we travel in other places, this is literally a walk in the park.

For example, when we visited Boston, in one day we went to a tour of Fenway Park in the morning, took a subway back to The Boston Common to start the walk of the Freedom Trail, stopped for lunch at the Fanueil Hall marketplace, walked out to the USS Constitution, took the ferry back to our hotel downtown, stopped at the hotel to change clothes, and then went back to Fenway Park for a night game. It was a great day.

Or, on one day on our recent trip to California, we drove from Anaheim to San Diego, spent about 4 hours at the SD Zoo, stopped at the Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park (I wanted to see the actual Apollo 9 command module), then drove past Petco Park (just because we wanted to see it), went up to La Jolla Cove to see some seals and sea lions in their natural habitat, and made a quick stop to see the Torrey Pines golf courses (another one of my things that my daughters tolerated). Another great day.

When we get somewhere where I'm not going to be very often, we don't dawdle. But, at WDW, we enjoy a more leisurely pace.

I used to work at the Grand Canyon as a photographer. I heard a joke there from a ranger (actually it was a true story) about a tourist he was talking to that was so excited because he had had breakfast at Bryce Canyon National Park, lunch at Zion National Park and dinner at Grand Canyon National Park. Now that does not sound too terribly hard since that only involves about 300 miles of driving. However the joke is going to three of the most beautiful and iconic parks in the world and only having a meal at each place.

 

[wisblue]

I used to work at the Grand Canyon as a photographer. I heard a joke there from a ranger (actually it was a true story) about a tourist he was talking to that was so excited because he had had breakfast at Bryce Canyon National Park, lunch at Zion National Park and dinner at Grand Canyon National Park. Now that does not sound too terribly hard since that only involves about 300 miles of driving. However the joke is going to three of the most beautiful and iconic parks in the world and only having a meal at each place.

Ha.

I can assure you that we would never do anything that outrageous. That's kind of like the national park version of the people who do every ride at WDW in a day. It gives you something to tell your friends but it isn't much fun.

 

[Planogirl]

I live in eastern Oklahoma. The drive is long and ugly and about 22-24 hrs straight through as I recall. Once you get past OKC it's flat land all the way and mind numbing. We don't get trains here. We don't get trains, busses, nothing...seriously, we drives cars here- that's it. Even the airlines schedules are terrible- no straight thru flights to anywhere and not much competition means really high prices. We did fly to DL one trip- despite the one who hates flying. We were stuck on the plane for 4 hrs while they did "repairs"- Ok yeah, I have a kid who is terrified of flying and they've got the tool bag sitting in the walkway of the plane and wouldn't let anyone off- this went well for us. The only other time I talked her into flying was to Orlando. We got stuck in New Orleans on the flight home- wasn't long after Katrina- for 7 hours because our connecting flight had technical issues and they had to fly a plane in from who knows where...Minnesota or something. We left Orlando at 8am, got home around 2 am. So she won't even allow the subject to be brought up again and I don't push it anymore.

We have much the same problem in the DFW area. No trains unless we go to Chicago first. If that isn't bizarre.

I checked Greyhound too just for fun and each leg of the trip takes a minimum of 1 full day plus four hours. The price isn't bad though but we might as well drive.

I used to work at the Grand Canyon as a photographer. I heard a joke there from a ranger (actually it was a true story) about a tourist he was talking to that was so excited because he had had breakfast at Bryce Canyon National Park, lunch at Zion National Park and dinner at Grand Canyon National Park. Now that does not sound too terribly hard since that only involves about 300 miles of driving. However the joke is going to three of the most beautiful and iconic parks in the world and only having a meal at each place.

I can't imagine visiting such amazing places just to have a meal. Maybe the guy was a regular visitor?

 

[cakebaker]

I checked Greyhound too just for fun and each leg of the trip takes a minimum of 1 full day plus four hours. The price isn't bad though but we might as well drive.

I was joking a little when I said we don't have busses- I think there actually is a Greyhound bus station in downtown Tulsa, but you couldn't pay me money to go to the part of town it's in. Scary place...

There's an Amtrak in OKC, but all routes lead to Ft Worth. I looked it up once because I've never ridden on Amtrak and thought it would be fun. What a convoluted route! OKC-Ft Worth- Chicago- DC- Orlando. LOL No thanks, I'll drive. They are talking of making a route from Tulsa to OKC so maybe I'll ride that someday just to be able to say I've ridden Amtrak.

 

[Planogirl]

I was joking a little when I said we don't have busses- I think there actually is a Greyhound bus station in downtown Tulsa, but you couldn't pay me money to go to the part of town it's in. Scary place...

There's an Amtrak in OKC, but all routes lead to Ft Worth. I looked it up once because I've never ridden on Amtrak and thought it would be fun. What a convoluted route! OKC-Ft Worth- Chicago- DC- Orlando. LOL No thanks, I'll drive. They are talking of making a route from Tulsa to OKC so maybe I'll ride that someday just to be able to say I've ridden Amtrak.

I love trains and used them a lot in Europe. I have to settle for the MK train to get my fix though.

There is talk of adding a line between Dallas and Houston. I could go for that!

 

[Laketravis]

There is talk of adding a line between Dallas and Houston. I could go for that!

As well as high speed rail between Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. When you include Houston, that is one massively large economic triangle that would do well to be interconnected with a high speed bullet train.

It's probably still a decade or two away, though

 

[Planogirl]

As well as high speed rail between Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. When you include Houston, that is one massively large economic triangle that would do well to be interconnected with a high speed bullet train.

It's probably still a decade or two away, though

Which is ridiculous! I would definitely travel to San Antonio and Austin rather than drive too.

I just wish that these lines would interconnect with the Amtrak lines that run in the south.

 

[WillAustin]

Which is ridiculous! I would definitely travel to San Antonio and Austin rather than drive too.

I just wish that these lines would interconnect with the Amtrak lines that run in the south.

High speed rail would definitely bring train travel back. That's why the airlines actively lobby against it.

We looked into train travel in the past and they have made it so inconvenient it's not worth the effort.

 

[Laketravis]

Wow, time flies - next Friday this all starts. I was looking at Google Maps satellite view to get familiar with routes when it occurred to me - I wonder when the most recent satellite pictures were taken because there are hardly any cars on the road!!

Also checked FP availability for the days we are already scheduled and it looks like it's starting to get tight in some areas. Since I'll be there for another week after this first exercise ends I wanted to try and make more FP's but can't until we start using days. Will be interesting to see what's left just seven days out in the midst of spring break.

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[dayvewc]

Also checked FP availability for the days we are already scheduled and it looks like it's starting to get tight in some areas. Since I'll be there for another week after this first exercise ends I wanted to try and make more FP's but can't until we start using days. Will be interesting to see what's left just seven days out in the midst of spring break.

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This ^^ was my single biggest complaint about having an AP after FP+ started. If Disney was going to put a # of days limit on AP reservations, couldn't they at least make it 10 (or 14) since they sell individual tickets up to those days? Or if by their numbers AP holders only stay for a week, keep the 7 day limit but let us book at 60 days instead. Seems like on this instance, AP holders get the worst of all worlds.

 

[Laketravis]

This ^^ was my single biggest complaint about having an AP after FP+ started. If Disney was going to put a # of days limit on AP reservations, couldn't they at least make it 10 (or 14) since they sell individual tickets up to those days? Or if by their numbers AP holders only stay for a week, keep the 7 day limit but let us book at 60 days instead. Seems like on this instance, AP holders get the worst of all worlds.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the logic was behind the 7 day limit. But because there is a 7 day limit, I think it's safe to reason:

1. Disney doesn't actually want an AP holder to visit the parks as frequently as we might like to think they would. Otherwise, why not let them schedule FP's for any day, every day?
2. If the argument is that some would hoard FP's that might be a valid point but only to the extent that a lot of FP holders would have to get online and do that every day on purpose to have any significant impact.
3. It's a stark contrast to ADR's, where I can make one for every day for up to 180 total days; it does not stop me after 7 days worth of ADR's if I'm not staying onsite.

I don't like the 7 day limit but I'll see what availability looks like once I start burning days. If it's not restricted at 7 days out then it's probably a moot point.


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[dayvewc]

1. Disney doesn't actually want an AP holder to visit the parks as frequently as we might like to think they would. Otherwise, why not let them schedule FP's for any day, every day?

I would absolutely agree that Disney doesn't want AP holders to visit the parks that frequently. The reason I got mine in 2013-2014 was looking at the number of days I would be able to go, the AP dropped my per visit cost into the $25/day range instead of the $65-$75/day (including parking)

2. If the argument is that some would hoard FP's that might be a valid point but only to the extent that a lot of FP holders would have to get online and do that every day on purpose to have any significant impact.

Yeah, I don't think that there are enough AP holders that would bother to do this every single day just on the off-chance that they might be able to come down 30 (or 60) days from now.

3. It's a stark contrast to ADR's, where I can make one for every day for up to 180 total days; it does not stop me after 7 days worth of ADR's if I'm not staying onsite.

Exactly. I was anticipating something closer to the ADR guidelines than what was finally done. Let the booking commence at 60 days (+10 for onsite stays) up to the number of days on your ticket (with a max cap of 14 since all tickets have to be used within 14 days).

I don't like the 7 day limit but I'll see what availability looks like once I start burning days. If it's not restricted at 7 days out then it's probably a moot point.

On the good side, though things may have changed since last July, I had to do my last 2 days after I got down there, and the only thing I was interested in doing that I had problems finding was SDMT. And still got FP+'s for that one at 6 days - just not many time options.

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You are the only person I quote that consistently has this period 3 returns down. But I notice it.

 

[Laketravis]

With our first night coming up this Friday, I decided to do a little test of spontaneity and see what FP's are still available for modification.

In MK "Buzz" is now gone (as well as 7DMT, A&E, Wishes, and the parade of course) but the rest appear to have good availability. Even though we will be arriving too late to switch parks, I checked Epcot and HS and everything was still available. Looking good so far in the event we wanted to change something.


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[Cormoran]

With our first night coming up this Friday, I decided to do a little test of spontaneity and see what FP's are still available for modification.

In MK "Buzz" is now gone (as well as 7DMT, A&E, Wishes, and the parade of course) but the rest appear to have good availability. Even though we will be arriving too late to switch parks, I checked Epcot and HS and everything was still available. Looking good so far in the event we wanted to change something.

It sounds like you have limited time for any spontaneity on Friday night. Have you looked at other days? I'm curious, if you see a posted SB wait of 20 minutes for a ride like POTC, but your next FP+ attraction opens in 30 minutes, are you willing to risk it and go for the SB line? I'm working on our upcoming strategy, but it's really difficult when you don't know if the posted SB wait is accurate or grossly underestimated.

 

[Laketravis]

It sounds like you have limited time for any spontaneity on Friday night.

It's going to be tight - I've been watching wait times on the app and they are growing. I'll be in a better position Friday night to judge how much we'll be able to accomplish outside of the three we've already got scheduled, Wishes and the Parade. CoP or PeopleMover might be the only SB lines that works for us that night.

I'm curious, if you see a posted SB wait of 20 minutes for a ride like POTC, but your next FP+ attraction opens in 30 minutes, are you willing to risk it and go for the SB line? I'm working on our upcoming strategy, but it's really difficult when you don't know if the posted SB wait is accurate or grossly underestimated.

I wouldn't risk it - last time the stress while standing in line wondering if we were going to make it robbed us of the enjoyment.


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[dayvewc]

Just me and my humble opinion, I wouldn't worry. If the FP+ window opens in 30 minutes, you'll have an hour after to get there. So other than PotC just going down a lot, I'd hop in a 20 min line with the idea that if it breaks down, then bail.

 

[soniam]

With our first night coming up this Friday, I decided to do a little test of spontaneity and see what FP's are still available for modification.

In MK "Buzz" is now gone (as well as 7DMT, A&E, Wishes, and the parade of course) but the rest appear to have good availability. Even though we will be arriving too late to switch parks, I checked Epcot and HS and everything was still available. Looking good so far in the event we wanted to change something.


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Hopefully, stuff will open up on the day of. I hope it does. We will be there the week after next, and I was hoping to get extra FP+ for things like Buzz, JC, HM, and POTC. Our prebooked ones are for the mountains. We got extra FP+ for things like this in late July.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Regarding AP booking, AP holders did have booking at 60 days up until last Spring. They lowered it to 30. There wasn't much outcry IIRC, which surprised me since it seemed like quite a big downgrade. I guess if you are local, not a big deal.

 

[lillygator]

we arrive 3/7 and am anxious to see what add'l fp we can get after the initial 3

 

[Laketravis]

we arrive 3/7 and am anxious to see what add'l fp we can get after the initial 3

I'm curious as well. While the plan is to make maximum use of time in the park with three FP's and anything in proximity that might have short SB lines, I might swing by a kiosk each day just to see what's still available. On the days were we are hitting USO in the mornings and WDW in the evenings, it will be interesting to see what's left at the kiosks.


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